What have you done with or to your M3 today?

[m3nace92]

been a longer project than i'd have liked since my laptop took a dump for about a month and i didn't have access to BavTech otherwise..

took off the manifold/plenum recently to inspect everything and clean the area in general up. like a dumbass, forgot to reconnect the IAT sensor when reinstalling the plenum. turned the car over and got a new code (2afb) so i had to deal with that until my laptop returned. followed this up by replacing my bank 1 sensor 1 o2 and had to wait "patiently" for my laptop. before taking care of these things, had the +1 qt light show up. being as i didn't know what oil the previous owner used and my only having the car for 3 months at this point, i opted to just change the oil altogether yesterday. went with the shell helix 10w60 from ecstuning and their magnetic drain plug. conveniently enough, my fixed laptop was dropped off as well.

hooked up the BavTech and cleared/reset everything. let the oil temp climb to operating level and the iDrive said it's at the minimum level. i did make sure that i let the oil drain for quite awhile when changing so i figure this may be accurate. took it for a drive to really let it work through the engine and hope it may get a better read after initially adding 8 liters. brought the car back to the garage and let it measure again, still at minimum level. made sure there were no leaks and then added another .25 liters. still at minimum level. hoping to try one more time today after getting home from work and taking it for a drive, if it's still low, i guess i'll add another .25 liters. anyone else ever have something similar happen after knowing you added very close to 8.5 liters? i really just don't want to overfill it and have to deal with another headache.

on the brightside, the faults haven't come back since clearing them. also had a ghost code (cdb6) before clearing that i couldn't find any useful information on. it showed up on my p3 gauge but when i plugged in BavTech, it didn't pick it up. it's gone for now at least.

now just waiting for a replacement hood release handle to arrive and hoping the car will be sorted out, for the time being at least. dealership was about to charge me 1100 in order to open my hood and replace everything when the lever broke (kinda bullshit that it's made of plastic). and then they wanted 264 for an oil change/service...that wasn't about to happen.

all in all, pretty pleased since it was my first time working on the car at all. for the most part, everything is relatively easy to access and take care of. especially compared to my audi which is the biggest pain in the ass to wrench on.

[m3nace92]

after the above^^^ i decided to drive the car to the gym after work yesterday and it felt good so i chose to drive it to work today (35 mile commute) and figured that if one of the fault codes were ever going to return, it'd happen at some point during the commute.

so relieved that everything remained cleared. first time working on the car myself = success

oil level still reads at minimum though after the 8.25 added. brought the remainder of the 9th quart with so before leaving work i guess i'm going to add another .25 and see if i can get it to read full by the time i get back home.


have to say...i really missed driving the car haha


recently reached out to evolve a few times about tuning and whatnot since i already have the evolve-r and the car has the cat-delete tune. not sure what others' experience is with them but so far i'm not too crazy about them. between an email and a private message on here inquiring about giving them my business, you'd assume they would want to respond. going to give them a call i guess for one last attempt later on.

[rcracin]

Got the bad motor on a new stand. Good times in this summer heat.

[kb9uwu]

Originally Posted by simpleM3

- Finally got around to having the glue residue removed from the back window that has been there since I removed my tints a year ago this month.
- Had the transmission fluid flushed. Changes between gears are infinitely smoother. Even coming off of the line is really smooth.
- Also had the rear diff flushed. Can't say I notice much of a difference there, but the car is driving better overall.
To do:
- Complete the installation of interior lights (started a year ago)
- Oil Change
- Replace 12mm spacers and add to the rear; sell 10mm spacers; and buy 15mm spacers

Wait, you had the diff and tranny flushed but not the engine?

[simpleM3]

Haha! There's a very good reason for that actually. I paid $110 to have the tranny and rear diff fluid replaced (also paid for the parts, but they were purchased independent of the labor). $110 over me having to slave for hours underneath the car draining and pumping fluid back into those tight spaces was more than well worth the money. Engine oil is simple and I usually like to do that myself, which I am planning to do tomorrow actually. I also didn't have the engine oil at the time. Just got it in today.

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

Wait, you had the diff and tranny flushed but not the engine?

[kb9uwu]

Originally Posted by simpleM3

Haha! There's a very good reason for that actually. I paid $110 to have the tranny and rear diff fluid replaced (also paid for the parts, but they were purchased independent of the labor). $110 over me having to slave for hours underneath the car draining and pumping fluid back into those tight spaces was more than well worth the money. Engine oil is simple and I usually like to do that myself, which I am planning to do tomorrow actually. I also didn't have the engine oil at the time. Just got it in today.

Oh, so you just had the fluid replaced, not flushed... gotchya... Also, just FYI, it takes me longer to change engine oil than it does tranny/diff!

[mboob]

Installed an Akrapovic slip-on exhaust. Car's still dirty from last weekend at the track, cleaning it up is this weekend's project.

[Richbot]

Diff fluid change takes 15 minutes including getting the car in the air

[brandoningram14]

Originally Posted by M3Bimmer77

Wow!!!! Looks great!!! How is the fit. It's the perfect lip. Nothing more, nothing less. Elegant.

What are those wheels? They're fantastic

[325rider]

Originally Posted by the6M3

From JBSpeed. They're full replacements, not overlays. Can't go wrong at $260 shipped! They arrived in Canada pretty quickly as well.

I'm 99% sure these are the same as the Autoteknic ones. I prefer these over OEM because they're 1x1 weave.

What are you exterior mods? Spacers? OEM ZCPs?

She looks super amazing!

[davesaddiction]

Originally Posted by whats77inaname

Replaced the EDC module that was keeping the car from sleeping w/one from eBay (for $100 shipped) when the local dealer wanted ~$1k to diagnose and change the exact same thing, even when I *told* the SA what the issue was.

I did the same thing recently! I didn't have the power drain issue; mine actually was shot and giving an error code. Quite a bit better than the $1k+ the dealer wanted to make it right...

[m3nace92]

car's running strong since the recent maintenance overhaul. mpg's seemed to drop after everything. assume it was just due to the work and the car being on ramps for a bit. threw in some techron for good measure and i'll have a better idea after this tank.

also swapped out all of the dull yellow interior bulbs and replaced them with led's. something small but makes all the difference in the world to me. my audi already had them when i bought it and when my m3 didn't, it became painfully obvious how much of a difference it makes.

[simpleM3]

Probably true, but I don't like jacking the car up on 4 jack stands which you have to do for rear diff. I only do the front 2 for engine oil change. Might also be that I'm pretty familiar with this process and not so much with rear diff. I also don't have my pwn personal garage, so I am sometimes reluctant to do a lot of work to the car in the complex parking garage

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

Oh, so you just had the fluid replaced, not flushed... gotchya... Also, just FYI, it takes me longer to change engine oil than it does tranny/diff!

[nydog]

Got Rose tinted today and swapped the exhaust for a OEM exhaust mod rear section.

[kb9uwu]

Originally Posted by simpleM3

Probably true, but I don't like jacking the car up on 4 jack stands which you have to do for rear diff. I only do the front 2 for engine oil change. Might also be that I'm pretty familiar with this process and not so much with rear diff. I also don't have my pwn personal garage, so I am sometimes reluctant to do a lot of work to the car in the complex parking garage

Get race ramps and a long low rider jack and you'll only need *one* jack! I drive my fronts up on the race ramps and jack up the rear with one jack and use 2 jack stands.

[simpleM3]

Not a bad idea.

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

Get race ramps and a long low rider jack and you'll only need *one* jack! I drive my fronts up on the race ramps and jack up the rear with one jack and use 2 jack stands.

[Agent-GHQ]

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

Get race ramps and a long low rider jack and you'll only need *one* jack! I drive my fronts up on the race ramps and jack up the rear with one jack and use 2 jack stands.

what size race ramps and links to buy them? Btw, do u need the extender to avoid rubbing as you drive up?

[kb9uwu]

Originally Posted by Agent-GHQ

what size race ramps and links to buy them? Btw, do u need the extender to avoid rubbing as you drive up?

No extender needed with these, but I'm on stock wheels and suspension. Not sure if you're lowered.
https://www.amazon.com/Race-Ramps-RR...dp/B003WSZH9G/

Here's the jack I bought when I purchased the ramps a few years ago
https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Ultra-P...dp/B00LR753T8/

[Agent-GHQ]

My M3 is completely stock/oem. Alright I'll give those race ramps a try. Thanks bro!

[m3nace92]

had my 2728 code for bank 1 sensor 1 o2 come back but i'm thinking it's just a fluke since i changed it and cleared the fault two weeks ago and have driven since multiple times since. having issues with my usb driver but i assume it will be fine after clearing again.

not sure if anyone else has experienced this or has any insight, but my average mpg before initially changing the faulty sensor was 2-4 miles higher depending on my driving. once i changed it and cleared everything, it dropped down roughly 14-16mpg depending. well, now that the fault code is back, i noticed on my way to work this morning that the mpg increased again by the same 2-4 miles.

in my limited experience, faulty o2 sensors typically lower the mpg and clean ones increase efficiency. this seems to be the complete opposite of what i have going on right now. car drives fine and nothing has changed other than the code and mpg.

anyone with any thoughts or insight to this, enlighten me please haha.

[SSJTrunks523]

First dyno pull!

[///Motown]

Originally Posted by kb9uwu

No extender needed with these, but I'm on stock wheels and suspension. Not sure if you're lowered.
https://www.amazon.com/Race-Ramps-RR...dp/B003WSZH9G/

Here's the jack I bought when I purchased the ramps a few years ago
https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Ultra-P...dp/B00LR753T8/

and this jack reaches the front center jack point without any issue?